My Ball Python is about 2 feet long and lives in a 55 gallon tank. While I'm beginning to understand that his home might be too large for him, he has never had a problem in the past. Last night, like a fool, I set my heat lamp down (it was off, but still hot). It started smoking a bit, and my Dzyu flipped out. He was acting as if he were trying to bite me. I have never been bitten by him, and I'm pretty scared of the idea. Well today I tried to hold him a bit and he seemed really nervous. I put him back in his tank and he was stretched out. I waited a minute or so and started to pet him. Then he slithered super fast into his log. If snakes could run, this is what it would look like. Why is my snake afraid of me?